Cennergi, the newly launched South African energy company, has acquired development rights to a solar photovoltaic project from a consortium comprising Subsolar Energy and Ruscello Renewable Energy.
The project is based in the North West Province and could start commercial operation by the end of 2013. Thomas Garner, Cennergi CEO says the acquisition adds considerable value to the company's portfolio of projects under development. 'It complements our renewables programme and we are very excited to be working with partners of the calibre of Subsolar and Ruscello"

Dick Berlijn, Managing Director of Subsolar "We are glad to have been able to provide Cennergi with this project, and we hope this is the beginning of more solar projects coming online in South Africa . All projects developed by Subsolar have a strong consideration for the requirements of all the stakeholders, and we view Cennergi's acquisition of this project as proof of the quality of the work we have done".

Michiel van Beek, Managing Director of Ruscello "By combining the solar project development experience of Ruscello in Europe with the strong local and business development knowledge of Subsolar we managed to develop attractive projects in a relatively short time."

South Africa is facing both a short and medium term energy shortage. Due to the short construction time of solar PV power plants, these plants provide an effective way to mitigate short term energy deficits, while also enabling local economic development. Development of these solar PV plants supports the South African government's intention to have 42% of its new-build energy capacity being generated from renewable energy technologies, as detailed in the Integrated Resource Plan.